Engineering Laboratory Accessible Via the Internet

工程教育与互联网、全球通信系统、计算机等技术的进步密切相关。然而，工程教育中有一个领域仍然被经典的教学方法所主导：实验室。工程实验课程的目的是教未来的工程师如何与“真正的硬件”进行交互，尽管它有很多缺陷。任何试图用最复杂的模拟软件取代学生实验室中的“真实硬件”的尝试都会导致真实性的丧失，并阻止学生获得重要的实践技能和经验。该项目的技术利用先进的空间激光定位硬件，配备计算机接口，便于远程操作和其组件的状态显示。该硬件操作的所有方面都由指定的计算机通过许多执行器和广泛的监测/数据采集来控制。我们通过互联网获得“真实硬件”的全球访问权限，从而允许全国范围内的远程用户实时进行任何实验，并收集代表实际设备属性的反馈信息。这给学生实验室带来了“真实硬件”实验中最有价值的方面。空间通信的实验室、激光转向和位置控制系统的选择使其对许多工程项目具有吸引力。这项技术的成功实施可以将全国的工程实验室提升到一流工程学校的水平，从而显著提高工程教育的质量，减少大学之间的差异。宾厄姆顿州立大学在大学教育教育学领域有着良好的成功研究记录。它的远程学习设施Enginet在一个由纽约州立大学（State University of New York）五个校区组成的联盟网络中运行。这些资源被用来有效地传播这个项目的成果。在信息技术革命性变革的推动下，该项目正在实现信息技术在教育中的整合。网际网路实验室的实施不仅能让学生接触到最先进的硬件，还能为他们提供利用网际网路、电脑绘图和数位影像的额外机会，从而为他们的专业挑战做好准备。

Engineering - Electrical (55) Engineering education is closely linked to advances in Internet, global communication systems, computers, etc. There is one area in engineering education, however, that is still dominated by classical teaching/learning methodology: the laboratory. The purpose of an engineering laboratory course is to teach future engineers to interact with the "real hardware"in all its imperfection. Any attempt to replace the "real hardware" in a student laboratory with the most elaborate simulation software results in the loss of realism and prevents students from gaining important practical skills and experiences. The technology in this project utilizes advanced space-qualified laser positioning hardware equipped with computer interfaces facilitating remote operation and status display of its components. All aspects of operation of this hardware are controlled by a designated computer through a number of actuators and extensive monitoring/data acquisition. We gain global accessibility of the "real hardware" via the Internet thus allowing remote users nationwide to perform any experiments in real-time and collect feedback information representing properties of the actual devices. This brings to a student laboratory the most valuable aspects of the "real hardware"-based experiments. The choice of laboratory, laser steering and position control systems for space communication make it attractive to many engineering programs. Successful implementation of this technology can upgrade engineering laboratories nationwide to the level of leading engineering schools and result in significant improvement of the quality of engineering education and reduce variability between universities. SUNY Binghamton has a well-established record of successful research in the area of pedagogy of university education. Its distance learning facility, Enginet, operates within a network made up of a consortium of five State University of New York campuses. These resources are utilized for effective dissemination of the results of this project. Being prompted by revolutionary changes in information technology, this project is realizing the integration of this technology in education. Implementation of the Internet-accessible laboratory will not only give students access to the most advanced hardware, but provide them with an additional opportunity to utilize Internet, computer graphics, and digital imaging, thus preparing them for the challenges of their profession.